Obama: I'm just an 'OK' debater

9/30/12 10:34 PM EDT

Las Vegas – Barack Obama wants you to know that he’s a really not so great as a debater.

As part of his week-long effort to lower expectations ahead of Wednesday’s first Obama-Romney debate in Denver – an obligatory ritual even the campaigns find tiresome – the president informed a crowd of 11,200 here Sunday night not to expect too much.

“Governor Romney is a good debater. I’m just okay,” said Obama, who is not known for his humility in competitive activities ranging from golf to cards to elections.

Obama took a cue from his traveling press secretary who earlier mocked reports that Romney was prepping one-liners. “Folks in the media are already speculating on who is going to have the best zingers, who is going to put the most points on the board,” he told the audience, adding that he was much more interested in delivering “serious” answers to policy queries.

The former Massachusetts governor, clearly the most polished performer in the GOP primary debates, has been poor-mouthing himself in hopes of scoring the he-did-better-than-we-thought crown Thursday morning.

That effort suffered a not insignificant setback on NBCX’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday when Romney surrogate Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey suggested the GOP nominee could be a major turnaround for the struggling Romney campaign.

Obama will spend the next two days in seclusion at a lakefront hotel in nearby Henderson, Nev., prepping for the showdown with advisers David Axelrod, Anita Dunn and Ron Klain, along with Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who is playing Romney in mock-ups.

It represented the 16th trip Obama has made to the Silver State since the start of the campaign – many of them to the predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods that ring Las Vegas.

“You guys must be getting tired of me,” Obama told the crowd at Desert Pines High School.